BALOO'S CARTOON BLOG: June 2011

Monday, June 13, 2011

Showcasing Randy Hylkema

Randy Hylkema was "the" libertarian cartoonist before anybody else went for the title. I've been trying, but I haven't caught up yet.

His wife says:

"Way back before ‘Atlas Shrugged’ was published, Randy Hylkema was born with a pencil in his fist. Ever since, he’s been the go-to guy when a humorous illustration is needed. His comic strip ‘Rudebarbs’ lightened the pages of ‘Reason Magazine’ for twelve years.

Catch up with his libertarian ‘take’ on Washington at: http://www.senatormedler.com/

Visit his art gallery at: http://www.rudebarbs.com/

Randy lives in Northern California with his family, his saxophone, and his hiking stick."

Randy himself says:

I did the Reason monthly feature cartoon "Rudebarbs" in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982 a collection of these cartoons was published in the book Rudebarbs. Some of the cartoons can be found on my Rudebarbs website: http://www.rudebarbs.com/Rudebarbscartoons.html

- In the 1980s Haga and Acocella wrote a book on bureaucracy titled "Haga's Law", which I illustrated. I also contributed cartoons to Pearson and Shaw's best selling book "Life Extension".

- I've done cartoons for presentations, T-shirts, mint tins (!), etc.

- I also do cartoon inspired airbrush paintings, samples to be found on http://www.rudebarbs.com/

- I have spent a lot of time when young collecting college degrees and later in high tech marketing and sales. These gave me lots of time for doodling and sketching while in class or on the phone.

- Senator Medler is inspired by the daily antics of our elected officials who can run all aspects of our lives better than we can. Can't they? www.senatormedler.com

And I say this:

Click on Senator Medler here to see it bigger. You'll get hooked. I'm a one-panel guy, and I envy Randy's knack at telling a story like this. He can make points that way that are beyond my capabilities. I wish he'd do these more often, but I know how hard it is to turn out cartoon material. Interestingly, his drawing style reminds me a lot of Larry Gonick's, whose politics, I'd guess, are 180 degrees away from Randy's. Me, I prefer Randy's.